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Lakers roll In typical postseason fashion, Indian Lake’s wrestling team caught fire at the right time Saturday during the Division II sectional tournament at Tippecanoe High School. The Lakers advanced nine wrestlers to the district tournament, placed 11 of 12 wrestlers and finished second behind seven-time defending state champions Graham. The top four of each weight class advanced to the district tournament this Friday and Saturday. The Falcons racked up another sectional title and broke their own scoring record with 363 points. Indian Lake scored 182.5 points for second, with Kenton Ridge third (141). Benjamin Logan finished fifth (121) and Bellefontaine placed 10th (65.5). After placing third at the Central Buckeye Conference meet a week ago, Lakers’ head coach Bill Fulton was very happy with Saturday’s result. “I was very pleased with how sectionals went,” said Fulton. “We were not satisfied after the CBC meet. We wanted nothing but second. I felt the kids stepped up this weekend. We are at a point where we should be.” Ben Logan head coach Tony Grant was not as fortunate on Saturday. “For as young and inexperienced as we were, it was a disappointing ending to the season,” said Grant. “We were improving and then came to the sectional and had a meltdown. “It seemed like some of the guys reverted back to the beginning of the season. They say that good decisions come from experience and experience comes from learning from bad decisions, so hopefully we learned a lot.” Bellefontaine placed five wrestlers and that left head coach Mike Bible encouraged. “I was pretty pleased. If we could get six placers I’d be happy,” said Bible. “We got five, so that is good for the younger guys. It is incentive for next year.” A total of 16 area wrestlers qualified to the district meet. Advancing for Indian Lake were Chris Schulz (112), Adam Witt (125), Nate Harmon (135), Scottie McMillen (140), Kevin Christman (145), Dane Cope (160), Arron Witt (171), Matt Marshall (189) and Thomas Taylor (215). Ben Logan qualified four wrestlers to the district meet with Jordan Penhorwood (140), Skylar Wohlgamuth (145), Hunter Pool (152) and Alex Jackson (285). For the Chiefs, Slayde Wilcoxon (130), Tyler Wisse (135) and Justin Colley (171) all earned district berths. Highlighting the Lakers’ day was senior Nate Harmon (135) earning his 100th career victory. Harmon fell by a 15-5 major decision to Graham’s Mark Meyer in the semifinals. Needing two wins to reach 100, Harmon pinned Jameson Kordik of Oakwood (1:48) and then beat Bellefontaine’s Tyler Wisse 5-3 in the finals. “That is an accomplishment and a half,” said Fulton. “We have had 15 or 16 guys do that in the 28 years I’ve been at Indian Lake. That is a great milestone for him. “Meyer is the funkiest wrestler I have seen in awhile. We would have scored on most of the moves we hit, but Meyer is not your contemporary wrestler. He caught us off guard with some moves.” Four Lakers also finished as runners-up Saturday and that group included Kevin Christman (145), Dane Cope (160), Matt Marshall (189) and Thomas Taylor (215). In the semifinals, Christman (145) made quick work of Kenton Ridge’s Jake Martycz with a pin in 1:36. In the championship he was pinned by Graham’s two-time state champ Ben Jordan (4:55). Cope (160) beat Phil Roth of Tippecanoe 10-5 in their semifinal bout and then fell to two-time state qualifier James Mannier of Graham by pin (3:43) in the finals. |